The Cruelest Goodbye
by Guardingangels86
Summary: Her smile faded into the long haunting sleep. Tag for "The Last Man". Contains Spoilers


Rodney sat by Jennifer's side as he petite body was racked with coughs. It killed him to watch her suffer like this. Her tiny frame seemed to be withering away. After everything they had been through and everything they had accomplished, it couldn't end like this. He had to fix it.

Of course he knew that she made him promise to leave the time line alone and God knows he wanted to listen to her. To grant her dying wish but, he couldn't, he couldn't let this be the end. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! How is it that just a few days earlier, they were happy, happier than they'd ever been and now, the end was drawing near….

_Jen and Rodney were happily walking through the park, hand in, observing the beautiful autumn colors_

_"So, there was something you wanted to talk about?" Rodney said, turning to her_

_"Yes, but how about you go first, you had something too, right?" She answered.. Rodney smiled at her and nodded his head._

_He then slowly leaned closer to kiss her. Her body fit into his arms as he held her close and slowly kissed her. He moved one of his hands up to her face and slowly caressed her cheek, savoring this precious moment he had with her. When they finally broke apart, he smiled._

"_And what did I do to deserve that?" She asked playfully with a smile. Rodney looked down nervously and reached into his pocket. Jennifer's smile faded as she looked concerned._

"_Hey.." She said, lifting his chin "are you alright?". Rodney smiled and pulled a box out of his pocket._

'_Never better" he answered as he got down on his knees. Jennifer gasped in surprise_

"_Jen, you have been my life for the past you. You are and have been totally and completely amazing and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know this isn't exactly me and how I approach things, but, I decided to leave all hints of sarcasm out of this" he said with a chuckle at the end. Jen smiled as well as tears rolled down her face. _

"_Jennifer Keller, will you marry me?" He asked, looking up into her eyes. Slow silent tears turned into a rapid flow as she enthusiastically nodded her head._

"_Yes, Yes of course I'll marry you Rodney." She said, helping him up off his knees and embracing him_

"_Well, that's certainly a weight lifted, you don't know how scared I've been for the last few weeks" he said holding her close._

"_And, also, sorry to rain on your parade about what you wanted to tell me, I'm sure nothing could match that awesome surprise" he said smugly. Jennifer laughed and quickly kissed him._

"_Oh, I defiantly think I can compete" she said as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear_

"_I'm pregnant"_

That was only a few minutes before she started coughing up blood. How cruel life was, everything was perfect one moment and literally the next, everything started to fall apart. Now he sat here, holding Jennifer's hand as she fought to hold on for not only herself, but for their unborn child. Rodney knew it was no use, the doctors didn't' give her very long to live.

Rodney had been off in his own world for so long, he didn't notice Jennifer start to stir.

"Rodney…" said a soft, weak voice. Her small frame only got smaller due to her illness.

"Hey, I'm here.." Rodney answered, leaning closer, kissing her forehead. His lips burned when it came into contact with her hot, fever-ridden skin.

"Rodney, I don't' have much time left..'' She said, her voice getting smaller. Rodney knew he was right, but for once in his life, he was going to try to be optimistic, for Jen's sake"

" Shh, don't talk like that. Jen, you need to save your strength, you've got a long fight ahead of you" he said, moving strands of hair from her face. She shook her head.

"The disease has already won Rodney, there is no way I can fight this…" Rodney sighed, he knew she was right, but he just didn't want to admit it.

"Well, none of this will matter later on anyways, I'll fix this Jen, I promise" he said, kissing her.

"No!" She said with as much force as she could muster. "You can't, don't waste your life! I have no regrets Rodney…" She said, closing her tired eyes

"What about our future Jen, our baby.." he said, looking down at her stomach. The idea of being a father never really got to settle in since he's been dealing with Jen's sickness since he found out.

"Rodney, if you change the timeline, none of this, us, will probably ever happen" She said slowly, her body slowly failing her

"You'd be alive, one way or another. So would Ronan, Teyla, John, Sam…" he said, looking deeply into Jen's eyes.

"Rodney, what's done is done, you can't mess with this, you can't change what has already happened. Don't chase what is already gone, please! I don't want that life for you" she said with conviction, using what little energy she had left. Rodney held down his head and sighed. Jen held his hand tight and placed it on her heart.

"Rodney, never forget me. Never forget that my heart will always belong to you" She said with a smile. His watering eyes look deeply into hers and he leaned forward for a final kiss. When he pulled away, she had a large smile on her face. As the heart monitor flat lined, her smile faded, giving into the long haunting sleep.


End file.
